After 15 minutes in the cage, it was hard to argue that they didn’t deliver.

Easton edged Papazian via majority decision in a back-and-forth slugfest on the main card of Friday’s fight card, which took place at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn., and aired on FX.

Easton and Papazian clinched up in the opening seconds and traded punches in the pocket. The action then shifted to the cage, where they battled for position in the clinch. They quickly reached a stalemate, and referee Matrio Yamasaki called for a restart. Easton stalked for the remainder of the round, landing a few crisp punches along the way, but Papazian avoided any serious damage and looked comfortable as he looked to counterstrike.

Easton again controlled the center of the cage to open the second, and while Papazian switched stances and offered different looks on the outside, it was Easton who appeared to land the cleaner blows. Still, both fighters had plenty of pep as the looked to engage. Late in the frame, Easton scored points with the first takedown of the fight, but Papazian crawled back to his feet with relative ease.

Papazian looked to flurry again in the opening seconds, but the action again moved quickly to the clinch. An accidental Easa=ton knee to the groin led to a brief break in action, but the two quickly resumed. The two slugged it out for the remainder of the round, and Easton unquestionably earned the best of the exchanges. Several right hands from Easton seemed to stun Papazian, but the newcomer refused to back down and made it an enjoyable scrap until the final bell.

In the end, Easton’s constant forward move movement earned him the nod, 29-28, 30-27 and 29-29.

“He’s a tough dude,” Easton said. “I knew he was going to show up. He came to fight. I came to fight. We talked a little trash and put on a great show.

“Hey us 135-pound fighters know how to bang and entertain. It’s non-stop action. And what a better time to do it than on the first FX show? There was also a lot of technique out there as well.”

“Just a great fight,” Papazian. “He was trying to take my head off, and I was trying to take off his. I really thought I got the better of the first two rounds, and that last round we just went at it in the middle of the cage.

“The plan was to keep moving, in and out, hit and counter – and to watch out for his kicks because he can do some damage with those.”

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